3 Italia has launched what it describes as the first Wi-Fi service in Italy to be offered via a UMTS-LTE mobile network connected to a fiber-optic network in outdoor urban areas, reports Telecompaper.com on Oct 20, 2014. The service, dubbed 3Wi-Fi, has been developed in partnership with Italian broadband operator Fastweb, which has set up a dedicated Wi-Fi infrastructure based on its fiber-optic technology. 3 Italia’s service has been launched on a trial basis for 35,000 customers in the northern Italian city of Monza. Throughout the month-long trial, the selected customers will be able to access unlimited data on their Android and iOS-powered smartphones and tablets by selecting the 3Wi-Fi network on their devices.

3 Italia said its innovative service allows customers to automatically pass from the UMTS-LTE network to the Wi-Fi network and vice-versa without interrupting the internet connection and is particularly suited to heavy users of mobile data. Fastweb added that 34 access points have been installed in Monza to collect the mobile data traffic and reroute it to the nearest fiber-optic street cabinet.